Ashikeni gave the advice in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to a global report released by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on infant mortality during an interview with newsmen.

It would be recall that the report released by UNICEF on Tuesday ranked Nigeria 11th highest on newborn deaths in the world. But Ashikeni explained that apart from focusing on infrastructural development in the health sector, a lot needs to be done to address manpower shortage in ensuring effective, efficient and functional primary healthcare across the country.

Mathew Ashikeni

According to him, the federal government needs to strengthen its Midwives Service Scheme Programme where midwives will be deployed to rural communities. “Constructing PHC facilities without them being functioning will not solve the problems responsible for maternal and infant mortality. “Availability of skilled and motivated work force is key and important in addressing the challenge of child mortality in the country,” he said.

Dr Ashikeni also advised the federal and state governments to scale up budgetary provisions to address numerous challenges in the health sector. He said that World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended not less than 15 per cent annual budget should be allocated to healthcare and Nigeria was still far from that.

The board secretary noted that some of the ailments that killed children in the country were preventable. He added that the infant death in the country was still higher than the global average of 27 per 1,000 live births. According to him, the Nigeria average stands at 39 per 1,000 live births. Besides, Ashikeni attributed high child mortality rate to poor hygiene and nutrition which often exposed children to infections.

Sokoto State House of Assembly, on Wednesday passed into law the State Contributory Healthcare Management Scheme Bill.

Newsmen report that the bill was passed after the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Health, presented by its Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Sarki. Sarki had explained that apart from civil servants, political appointees and other citizens were free to join the scheme.

He also said that the committee recommended that 20 per cent generated from Zakkat, paid through the state zakat and endowment committee, be dedicated to the scheme.

“The law shall eliminate all issues that might bring doubts on the acceptance of the scheme in the community.“Ten per cent of salaries of all elected office holders and political appointees be deducted in favour of the scheme and a legal adviser should be provided for the Agency,” Sarki said.

The bill was unanimously adopted during the sitting presided by the Deputy Speaker, Abubakar Magaji. In another development, the Assembly has urged the state government to replace damaged power installations in Rabah Local Government that had left many communities without electricity.

The call followed a motion moved by Abdullahi Zakari, who represents Rabah constituency. According to Zakari, 80 per cent of villages in the local government have been without electricity for over three years.

He said, “This is due to the windstorm that damaged the infrastructure and subsequent theft of most of the cables and other electrical installations.

“Therefore, it is deemed necessary to request the urgent intervention of the state government to restore electricity supply to the affected areas.”

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources has proposed a 12-month emergency action plan to scale up access to sanitation and hygiene services in the country’s public spaces.

This was part of the recommendations at the end of a National Retreat on Revitalisation of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), made available to Newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

The plan showed that by 2030, every Nigerian would have access to safely managed sanitation and hygiene facilities in cities, small towns, and rural communities.

Engr. Suleiman Adamu

The plan also stipulates that state and local governments enforce existing building codes and related legislation regarding the minimum number of sanitation facilities required for buildings and facilities. It would also ensure that where such existing codes and legislations were inadequate, new codes would be drafted and enacted.

In an interview with newsmen, the Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Mr Emmanuel Awe, said there was the need for all tiers of government to institutionalise sanitation as a counterpart to water supply. The director asserted that ignoring sanitation would be detrimental to the wellbeing of the citizenry.

He expressed regret that most policies and programmes from previous administration was solely on water supply, adding that budgeting for sanitation was important to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

“Sanitation cannot be ignored, it is a silent killer. Nigeria can reduce its disease burden by making access to Water and Sanitation a priority. “We need to wake up to the reality to advocate for more funding to scale up sanitation and hygiene before the end of the SDGs.”

He said Nigeria could reduce its disease burden with a working sanitation action plan in place, adding that no fewer than 46 million people practice open defecation in the country.

According to him, no fewer than 2.4 million deaths occur annually from poor sanitation, and stressed the need to improve hygiene education to promote behaviour change toward reducing open defecation practices. He said there was also the need for all stakeholders to wake up to advocate for more funding for sanitation and hygiene.

Awe noted that Nigeria needed three times the present funding for scaling up sanitation, which he said amounted to about 1.3 per cent of its annual Gross Domestic Product.

He disclosed that the ministry was developing a Sanitation Value Chain Strategy to promote investment in addressing the near absence of wastewater and fecal sludge in Nigeria.

This strategy, he said, would include the promotion of innovative technologies that reuse treated fecal sludge and wastewater into economically-viable byproducts, such as fertilisers, bio-gas, and water for irrigation.

He said the ministry was putting measures in place to launch a national campaign to end open defecation in June, 2018 to create awareness on its dangers and what can be done to reverse the trend.

According to him, the ministry is also working to fast-track the ongoing development of the National Policy on Urban Sanitation, which will be approved and disseminated by August.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has donated 28 motorcycles worth N8.4 million to Jigawa Government to enhance Disease Surveillance and Notification in the state.

The WHO Coordinator in the state, Dr Sam Yenyi, handed over the motorcycles to the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Abba Zakari, in
Dutse on Monday.

Dr Yenyi described surveillance as key to the elimination and control of diseases. According to WHO, surveillance is at the core of disease control, elimination and eradication efforts.

“Surveillance enables the monitoring and assessment of impact of strategies and activities aimed at reducing disease burden and tracking of progress toward specified goals. Importantly, surveillance also serves as an early warning systems for impending public health
emergencies,” Yenyi said.

He said the donation was made to the government to further enhance surveillance and build a highly sensitive and robust system to rapidly detect and respond to diseases of epidemic potential.

The coordinator added that the motorcycles would be distributed to 27 Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) of the 27 local government areas of the state. He said one motorcycle would be given to the State Disease Surveillance and Notification Officer.

He emphasised that DSNOs play important roles in active surveillance through visiting communities and health facilities, and linking up
with key community informants. He further urged the commissioner to ensure that the motorcycles are maintained and used for the purpose they were provided.

“WHO will appreciate your support in ensuring that these motorcycles are well kept, put to good use for the purpose they are intended, and they are properly maintained by the DSNOs. “Together we can build a strong disease surveillance system and ultimately ensure that people of Jigawa state attain the highest standards of health,,” he said.

Responding, Zakari thanked the agency for the donation of the motorcycles to the DSNOs. “They will be used by the Local Government DSNOs to ease and facilitate disease surveillance and other disease control activities in the state,” the commissioner said. He called on the beneficiaries to use the motorcycles judiciously for the benefit of the people of the state.

Zakari directed all Primary Healthcare Managers to always fuel and repair the motorcycles to enhance surveillance and responses to disease outbreaks in their respective local government areas.

A medical practitioner, Dr Olatunde Afolayan, says making Family Planning (FP) a social norm in the country will boost the economy and discourage Nigerians from migrating to foreign countries in search for better life.

Afolayan said this at an FP Sensitisation Programme organised by Sparkle Foundation and Agents of Change in collaboration with the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), at Makoko community in Lagos.

He said multiple births or lack of birth control contributed to the high rate of poverty, lack of infrastructure and economic challenges fuelling the citizens’ desire to travel abroad legally and illegally in search of economic prosperity. According to him, planning the economic development and growth of the nation starts with planning the family.

“Family planning should become a ‘must’ in Nigeria of the 21st century because we cannot continue to give birth in an unplanned manner. Having multiple children in unplanned manners can be very overwhelming because you cannot cater for them adequately and this is why poverty, hunger, unemployment, maternal and child mortality are on the increase.

“Multiple births can also disrupt government plans, with the country’s economy and infrastructure struggling to cope with volatile population growth. A population growth that is not properly managed will in most cases, give rise to mass unemployment and mass migration to cities like in the case of Libya,” he said. Afolayan noted that developed countries plan and turn around their economies positively through FP.

“We need to adopt family planning so that our society and country can be like the `White man’s’ country; the land that we envy so much. The beginning of their development was through birth control, which is why they are able to plan their family, society and their countries,” Afolayan said.

While demonstrating the application of the different methods of FP, Dr Adeola Duduyemi of NURHI said that the essence of their activities was to ensure that every pregnancy was by choice and not by chance.

“We want to ensure that every pregnancy is safe; the campaign on the importance of family planning is aimed at reducing the high rate of maternal, infant and child mortality in Lagos State and in Nigeria. “Spacing a child through family planning methods helps the mother to regain her health after delivery; it also gives the woman the opportunity to love and give attention to her husband and children,” she said.

Also speaking, Founder, Sparkle Foundation, Mrs Olasumbo Ojuroye, said the organisation saw the need to sensitise masses on the need for FP in order to improve the health and living conditions of the citizens. Mrs Ojuroye said the campaign was brought to Makoko community because it was a suburb and a deprived area of the state with little or no access to adequate information.

Chairman of Yaba Local Council Development Area, Mr Omiyale Kayode, appealed to residents to embrace FP so as to improve their quality of life and secure their future.

Several parents in Nasarawa on Monday heeded the State Government’s advice to present their children and wards for vaccination against measles, media men report.

A correspondent monitoring the exercise at Ezhiba community in Akun Development Area of the state reports that large number of children turned out for the vaccination.

The vaccination, which commenced across the communities in the state on Feb. 15, will end on Tuesday. Parents were seen mobilising their children and wards towards the designated centres for the exercise to beat the Feb. 20 deadline.

A house wife, Mrs Litini Thomas, told media men that “As you can see, we are complying with all measles immunisation response through mobilisation of our children towards eradicating the deadly diseases in the state and the country at large.

“Measles is a deadly disease and we are mobilising our children for the exercise because we want to eradicate the deadly disease in the country. I am also commending the state and federal governments for giving adequate attention to the measles and other health programmes for the purpose of improving the health of the people,” he said.

Thomas called on other parents yet to vaccinate their children against measles to avail their children the opportunity in their interest. Another parent, Mr Nicodemus Bulus, said that he took his child for the immunisation considering the importance of the measles vaccination to health.

“In fact, I commend the government for the exercise and for enlightening the people on the vaccination. It is safe for children’s health and not harmful to children in any way.

“We are complementing government efforts and in the interest of the health of our children; that is why, as you can see, we have mobilised our children for the vaccination,” he said.

Ms Ashe Godwin, another parent, told the media men that: “I brought my little brother for the vaccination because my parents directed me to ensure that he should be vaccinated.

“I want to thank governments for their continued attention to the health sector. I am calling for its sustenance and I also want to call on all stakeholders to play a role in ensuring that every child in his/her area is vaccinated.”

Pan African health lobby has called on the Kenyan Government to increase funding for the wellbeing of its citizens in order to achieve the universal health coverage goal by the end of 2022.

Deputy Director of Youth Advocacy Project, at the Nairobi-based Amref Health Africa, Peter Ngure, told an economic forum in Nairobi late Thursday that Kenya was currently investing seven per cent of its annual budget on health.

Peter Ngure

“There is need for a drastic review to this and at least ensure an increase annually so that health expenditure reaches 15 per cent of national budget.

The 15 per cent of national budget as per the Abuja Declaration of improving the health sector in order for the country to attain its goal of universal health coverage,” Ngure said during a pre-budget hearing on the 2018/2019 financial year.

Ngure said Kenya had integrated universal health coverage as a goal in the national health strategy and entrenched it in the Constitution.

He said that although there have been overall improvement of health indicators in the last decade; the health sector continued to face major challenges.

He said that the challenges were inequitable access to health service and shortage of qualified health workers with appropriate skills.

Ngure noted that the East African nation had nine health workers for every 10,000 people in the population, while the recommended WHO level is 20 health workers per 10,000 people.

“This shows that increased recruitment of health workers as well as improved remuneration and motivation of health personnel should be prioritised,” he added.

The Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HOS), Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita on Friday in Abuja, inaugurated two committees to ensure safe and healthy working environment for public servants in the country.

The committees are: Joint Committee for the Development of Framework for the Implementation of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) and Technical Committee for the Development of Public Service Emergency Management Policy Framework.

Inaugurating the committee, Oyo-Ita gave members of the committee two months to submit their findings.

Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita

According to her, implementation of the outcome will enhance self esteem and increase job satisfaction among public servants.

“Improving the well being of civil servants involves attending to a whole gamut of issues, including providing a healthy work environment, which guarantees the safety of workers at all times.

“In pursuant of this and to ensure the wellbeing and dignity of employees at work, the National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health was developed.

“This was also followed by the signing into law of the Employees Compensation Act (ECA) 2010, which is being implemented by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF),” he said.

She said that the initiative was expected to provide the opportunity for civil servants and indeed the public service as a whole, to access the various benefits provided for in the ECA.

Oyo-Ita said that the technical committee members, who comprised of critical stakeholders from relevant organisations, were expected to develop the Public Service Emergency Management Policy.

She urged them to develop action plan for the implementation of the Public Service Emergency Management Policy and to propose any other recommendations that would ensure effective implementation of the plan.

Oyo-Ita called on the Joint Committee members to examine the ECA 2010 and identify areas of collaboration between NSITF and the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF).

The chairperson of both committees, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office (SWO), OHCSF, said that the committees would ensure a safe healthy work environment.

Walson-Jack, said the objectives of her office was to promote international best practices in work environment and encourage social, cultural recreation and sporting activities for the benefits of public servants.

Mr Badanga Lamido, who spoke on behalf of the committee members, assured the head of Service of their commitment to produce good results.

“The time of the initiative is apt and I want to assure you that we will put in our best and come up with result good report.’’

Newsnenreport that the Joint Committee for the Development of Framework for the Implementation of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) comprised 11 members from NSITF, Federal Ministries of Health and Labour and Employment.

The Technical Committee for the Development of Public Service Emergency Management Policy Framework comprised 12 members from the Federal Road Safety Corps, Federal Fire Service, National Emergency Management Agency, National Institute of Architects among others.

No fewer than 654, 804 children aged between nine months and five years will be immunised during the March measles vaccination in Kogi state, a World Health Organisation (WHO) consultant has said.

A National Measles Consultant to WHO, Dr Muhammad Salihu, who made this known to newsmen in Lokoja on Tuesday, said the exercise would last from March 1 to 13. The consultant said that WHO had taken delivery of 720, 290 doses of vaccines required for the exercise.

Governor Yahya Bello

Dr Salihu who spoke at a one-day sensitisation programme for the media on the exercise, said it would hold simultaneously in all the 239 wards across the state.

He said the exercise would be handled by 614 teams of vaccinators and that it would hold at places of worship, markets, palaces, schools and health facilities across the state.

Also speaking, a facilitator, Dr Uzoma Ogbonna, said that the exercise would hold only in designated areas, adding that there was no resources to carry out house-to-house immunisation.

“We are using this to complement the routine immunisation. “Parents are advised not to wait; they should just walk down to the nearest health facility to immunise their children irrespective of previous immunisation,” he said.

Ogbonna said the vaccinators had been instructed not to administer the vaccine on children above 10 years. The facilitator emphasised that the exercise was essentially for those within the age bracket of nine months and five years.

The state Health Educator, Mr Acheku Yusuf, urged journalists to join hands with the State Government to make the exercise a success. He said that only measles vaccines would be administered during the exercise, calling on parents to take advantage of it to immunise their children against measles.

The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) says it has introduced a programme “State Engagement Planning (SEP)’’ to improve health care service delivery and block wastage of resources.

The Head of UNICEF Field Office in Sokoto, Mr Paul Mudzongo, made this known in Gusau, Zamfara on Tuesday at the opening of a two – day stakeholders meeting to prepare the 2018-2022 SEP programme for the state.

He said the new initiative would accelerate achievement of results in areas of intervention as well as also identify and agree with other partners on how best to prioritise convergence of support to communities.

According to him, under the arrangement, both UNICEF and other support partners will have a better understanding with the state on how to improve the indices of success in the state which have suffered setbacks in the past.

“We will also make it clearer that the state government will have to own and lead all areas of intervention, while as partners, we will offer support to such programmes,’’ he explained.

The UNICEF officer said more attention would be given to the areas of provision of clean drinking water, healthcare delivery, sanitation, education and nutrition.

He noted that the coming together of the partners under one umbrella would facilitate alignment in budgeting, enhance value for money and fast-track the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Mudzongo said under SEP, UNICEF would also involve private sector and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

This the UNICEF official said would enable the organisations to build on existing systems to significantly reduce child abuse, malnutrition, stunting as well as improve school enrollment, especially among girls as well immunization of children under five years.

He urged states under the Sokoto Field Office, which include Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara to put in their best “because we will introduce intra and interstate competition among you.’’

Newsmen report that participants at the meeting were drawn from the state Ministry of Health, and the media among others.